Barbara Brinson Retires After 39 Years Of Service To County

Judge’s Do-It-All Lady Calls It A Career After 39 Years Of Dedication

by Michael Stanley

Staff Writer

Retiring Owen Circuit Court Reporter Barbara Brinson admires a gift, a framed photograph of the circuit court staff, during her retirement party Friday at the Owen County Courthouse. (Staff Photo)
Getting her feet wet working in county government with former Owen County Clerk Margaret Tucker in 1971, Owen County Circuit Court do-it-all staffer Barbara Brinson called it a 39-year career Friday afternoon during a retirement ceremony at the county courthouse.

“We want to say ‘thanks’ Barb for all the years of service. I don’t know how to repay you for all the work you did over the years to keep us going. I hope you have a great retirement,” Owen County Circuit Court Judge Frank Nardi said.

“I’ve enjoyed it, it’s a new chapter now. No RV, maybe Holiday Inns, something more comfortable,” Brinson said with a laugh. “I started in the clerk’s office in ‘71 and we typed all of the juvenile stuff downstairs. Then I went to the auditor’s office when Margaret (Tucker) was elected auditor. When she completed her term there, I came to the judge’s office.”

Former Owen County elected official Margaret Tucker (left) came to celebrate the retirement of former co-worker Barbara Brinson from the Owen County Circuit Court on Friday afternoon. (Staff Photo)
Working on each of the three Owen County Courthouse floors, Brinson spent her final 20 with Judge Nardi.

“Twenty-years, my goodness, how time flies. When we came in, we had typewriters, we weren’t using carbon paper. Then we went to the programmable typewriters and then stand-alone computers. A big difference,” Nardi noted. “Barb started out taking care of the mailing for us. Over the years, she learned all the other jobs, she’s court reported, mailed, been a receptionist and worked with the juries. She was our all-around goto person to fill in for other people, so that’s why it’s going to be so hard to replace her. She knew a little about everything in the office. She’s going to be very missed, because it’s been the way we’ve kept up the case-load. We could always call on her when others were busy typing minutes, because she could work in the courtroom with me.”

Recalling an instance when county leaders learned the broad workload of Brinson, Nardi and all shared a laugh.

“One year the county commissioners hired a firm to study each person’s job and its description. They were going to use it to tie those in with the pay-scale,” Nardi began. “They passed out this questionnaire, everybody filled it out and we got the results back, showing that Barbara was the most overworked person in the office. It was cute, because they said, ‘She does everything!’ Well, yes, she does do everything, but she works the same hours as everyone else. In fact, I’ll be back to the county council on Monday night to ask for this position to be moved back to full-time so we can add another court reporter. That’s why she’s been so valuable, she could pickup the slack when the recession caused a real boom to our business. The rest of them are just working like crazy to get caught up.”

Barbara and husband David will look forward to spending time together at their rural Spencer home and the random weekend get-away.

“I’ve really enjoyed it, the judge is a great boss,” Brinson said. “We’ve got 17 acres to take care of, and we like to travel some, just little trips. We’re just going to have fun.”